Professor Leslie on Electrical Theories, <29 
the time of transmission will be proportional to the distance AG. 
But if the conducting substance be inconsiderable, compared 
with the body A, the contiguous part AB will retain its inten- 
sity AIL, even after the electricity begins to spread at G ; and 
since no communication can ever take place, unless each point be 
more strongly electrified than the succeeding one, there will evi- 
dently be established a regular gradation of intensity BI, CK, 
DL, EM, and NF, from A, where it is greatest, to G, where, 
from its wide and rapid dissipation, the electricity becomes to- 
tally insensible. Therefore the electricity contained in AB, BO. 
CD, &c. will now be denoted by the quadrangular spaces 
AHIB, BIKC, CKLD, &e. Suppose that the portion AC of 
the conductor is suddenly disconnected, then the electricity HIO 
will in one instant be transferred from AB to BC, and the equi- 
librium in AC restored. But the continuity of AG, though it 
will prevent this equilibrium, cannot affect the quantity of com- 
munication. In one instant, therefore, the electricity HIO 
will be imparted from A to AB, IPK, from AB to BC, IvLQ, 
from BC to CD, &c. If AG and AB be constant, the triangle 
HOI will be proportional to HA ; that is, while the conductor 
remains the same, the rate of transmission will be proportional 
to the intensity of the electricity in the body A ; and hence, if 
the electricity be diminished one- half in one second, it will be 
reduced to Jth in 2", to Jth in 3", to T \th in 4", &c. ; but the 
electricity that still remains will become soon imperceptible. If 
AH and AB are given, the triangle HOI will be reciprocally 
as AG ; or, when in other respects the conductor remains the 
same, the rate of transmission will he reciprocally as its length. 
But the quantity of electricity communicated in a certain mi- 
nute interval, will, when other circumstances are alike, depend 
obviously on the proportion of matter in A to that in the adja- 
cent portion AB of the conductor ; or, since AB is given, the 
intensity diminishes inversely as the matter in A, and directly 
as the transverse section of the conductor at A. The time of 
transmission will also depend greatly on the nature of the con- 
necting substances ; for these differ extremely in their conduct- 
ing qualities. 
The foregoing principles will likewise apply in the case of the 
charged jar. For let AG (Plate I. Fig. 9-) connect the two coat- 
